Cefic’s latest chemical trends report is out!

Ongoing weak demand, export improvement, but low chemical business confidence

The weak demand and declining business confidence continue to challenge the EU27 chemical industry. Energy is still more expensive than before the crisis and not competitive on a global scale. In spite of a production increase and a significant export improvement, the competitiveness of the sector in Europe remains well below pre-crisis levels.

To date, the following trends can be seen for 2024:

• Oil prices were 3.8% higher than the previous year (Jan-Aug).
• European natural gas prices were 3.9 times higher than in the USA (Jan-Aug)
• EU27 chemical prices were 5.7% lower than the previous year (Jan-July).
• Chemical output was 3.6% higher than the previous year (Jan – July).
• Chemical production growth was uneven across EU27 countries over the same period (Jan-Jul
  2024), with Germany, Belgium, and Spain seeing moderate increases, while Greece and Poland
  experienced double-digit growth.
• The volume of chemical exports rose by 8% in the first half of2024 compared to the same
  period last year. The biggest increasesin exports outside the EU27 are attributable to Morocco
  (basic inorganics), UK (petrochemicals) and Turkey (polymers).
• The volume of chemical imports rose by 3% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same
  period last year. The three largest increases in EU27 imports are attributable to UK
  (petrochemicals), Turkey (petrochemicals), Morocco (basic inorganics).
• Global chemical production grew by 6.1%, driven largely by China (Jan-July 2024), vs 2.7% last
  year (same period).
  

By clicking here you can find all the past editions of Cefic’s Chemical Monthly Report.